Watch Live Webcast of Comet PANSTARRS

By Nancy Atkinson - March 15, 2013 at 3:03 PM UTC | Observing
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UPDATE: The webcast has been moved to March 16 at 17:00 UTC (1 pm EDT) due to bad weather in Italy.

Has it been cloudy where you live and you haven't yet been able to see Comet PANSTARRS? The Virtual Telescope Project will have a live webcast of this comet, C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS, from Italy,

March 15

, on March 16 at 17:00 UTC, 1 p.m. EDT. "We have been waiting for it for over one year, and now the waiting is over," said astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, who will host the webcast, which you can see

at this link.

Masi said they are keeping an eye on the skies, and will keep us updated on if they need to change the time of the webcast.

If you're waiting for the weekend to see it with your own eyes, check out our detailed guides on how to see it

here

and

here

. Both are filled with graphics and great info on how to see this comet.

This comet has been a challenge to see, and was actually closest to the Sun on March 10, meaning that is when it was at its brightest. However, while Comet PANSTARRS will fade over the next few weeks, it will also rise higher into a darker sky and become – for a time – easier to see. So keep looking!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com